Fidelity Worldwide Investment has launched a Global Demographics Fund aiming to garner “superior” long-term returns by tapping into companies whose profits are principally driven by key social trends, such as the world’s ageing population, which is growing in terms of both size and wealth.

The Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV fund, managed by Hilary Natoff and Nicky Stafford, is an unconstrained portfolio of between 50 and 80 stocks with a focus on long-term social trends, “the most powerful forces we will see in our investment lifetimes,” according to Natoff.

Natoff and Stafford will monitor around 1,000 companies - a significant proportion of which the firm said is currently weighted towards healthcare and consumer stocks. Additional sectors include information technology, aerospace companies and emerging markets banks.

The fund will invest in two types of company: the “winners of today” and the “winners of tomorrow”, the firm said. The former concerns companies which have already benefited from demographic trends, while the latter typically comprises leaders in new growth markets with strong future growth prospects.

“Demographic shifts have the advantage of being predictable and can tremendously enhance and sustain the long-term earnings power of those companies well-positioned to benefit,” explained Stafford.

The fund has a minimum investment requirement of $1 million for the sterling share class, and a dollar share class will also be available with a minimum investment of $2,500, the firm said. Its comparative index is the MSCI AC World Index.